Posts Tagged ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

In the months leading up to the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, speculation was rampant that the villain squaring off against Kirk, Spock et al. would be none other than Khan Noonien Singh.

Famously played by Ricardo Montalban in the 1967 episode Space Seed and again in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Benicio Del Toro was tipped for the bad guy role when pre-production on the sequel got underway in 2011.

After Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as the baddie in 2012, director J.J. Abrams and writers Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman went into lockdown mode, refusing to confirm or deny Khan would be the villain in the sequel.

Well, by now we all know how that turned out. The identity of Cumberbatch’s character stayed hidden, and the ‘secret’ was safe until about 20 minutes after the first screening of Into Darkness. Some fans cried foul, while others cheered for joy. And there’s a new comic out that delves further into Khan’s backstory if you’re hungering for more.

But in a recent interview with MTV’s Josh Horowitz, Abrams now admits that keeping Khan’s identity a secret may have been a mistake.

Turns out Paramount Pictures was worried that emphasizing Khan in early ads was too much ‘inside baseball’ for casual movie fans not familiar with Star Trek lore.

“The truth is I think it probably would have been smarter just to say upfront ‘This is who it is.’ It was only trying to preserve the fun of it, and it might have given more time to acclimate and accept that’s what the thing was,” Abrams told MTV. “The truth is because it was so important to the studio that we not angle this thing for existing fans. If we said it was Khan, it would feel like you’ve really got to know what ‘Star Trek’ is about to see this movie. That would have been limiting. I can understand their argument to try to keep that quiet, but I do wonder if it would have seemed a little bit less like an attempt at deception if we had just come out with it.”

I for one didn’t feel overly deceived since I had already assumed Cumberbatch was playing Khan. In fact, I probably would have been more irritated if he ended up being someone else (although Gary Mitchell might have been cool).

“I don’t know if Joe Cornish is the guy,” Abrams said. “My guess is that’s up in the air. I adore him and love him and can’t wait to see what he does next,” Abrams said. “Hopefully it will be ‘Star Trek.’ Whatever it is, he’s brilliant. ‘Attack the Block’ was one of my favorite movies of the year when it came out.”

What do you think? Were you cheesed that Abrams tried to keep Khan a secret? Sound off in the comments.

J.J. Abrams is seen at the premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness in this May 2012 file photo. Brian To/WENN.com

After rumours surfaced over the weekend that J.J. Abrams was exiting Star Wars: Episode VII, LucasFilm has issued a statement saying the director is still committed to the film.

“There is no truth to the rumour (that he has quit),” reports IGN. “J.J. is having a great time working on the script and is looking forward to going into production next year.”

If Star Wars isn’t your thing, and you’re more of a Trekkie, we’re getting word that Star Trek 3 will be written by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz (Fringe, X-Men: First Class). Apparently, Paramount wants the third instalment ready for the 50th anniversary of Trek in 2016.

Before J.J. Abrams starts working on Star Wars Episode VII full time, the director will have to walk the promo gauntlet for Star Trek Into Darkness where he will be asked endlessly how he plans on juggling two franchises.

Up to now, fanboys have just assumed he’ll ditch Trek entirely now that Disney has handed him the keys to a new trilogy of Star Wars films.

But in an interview with Playboy, Abrams says doing Episode VII doesn’t mean he can’t make another Star Trek.

“I would say it’s a possibility,” he tells the magazine. “We’re trying to figure out the next step. But it’s like anything: It all begins with the story.”

Abrams also addressed some of the backlash he experienced when it was announced that he was helming the new Star Wars film.

“I mean, I get it. The worlds are vastly different. Honestly, that was why I passed on Star Wars to begin with. I couldn’t imagine doing both. But when I said that my loyalty was to Star Trek I was literally working on finishing this cut. I couldn’t even entertain another thought. It was like being on the most beautiful beach in the world and someone saying, ‘There’s this amazing mountain over here. Come take a look.’ I couldn’t balance the two, so I passed on Star Wars… In the end it was my wife, Katie, who said if it was something that really interested me, I had to consider it.”

The wide-ranging interview also touches on Fringe (I skipped that bit since I haven’t finished the series), the possibility of an Alias movie (“We discuss it. In the right circumstance and situation I would definitely be open to it”), Cloverfield II (“Part of me just wants to let it go”) and his un-produced Superman Flyby screenplay.

Check out the latest trailer below and let us know whether you think Abrams should be allowed to direct both Star Trek and Star Wars.

Our Contributors

Bruce Kirkland has been a reporter with Sun Media for 31 years. He has worked the movies beat from 1980-2007, and still focuses on TIFF, Cannes, Oscars. Before taking a position at the Toronto Sun, he worked at the Ottawa Journal as entertainment editor and movie critic from 1979-80, and at Toronto Star as music critic and general-assignment news reporter from 1971-79.

Jim has been a Sun reporter for 28 years. Previously covered TV beat and all entertainment fields. Scriptwriter for NHL Awards, Gemini Awards, documentaries. Prior to Sun, worked at Ottawa Citizen as entertainment reporter from 1981-1983.

Liz Braun has been a Sun reporter for 25 years, all as movies critic. Worked concurrently in TV and radio for 20 years; co-hosted the original On The Arts for CBC National TV, for example and also appeared on Canada AM and various TV talk shows with regard to entertainment news. Previously was a music publicist: national director of publicity for CBS (now Sony) Records and Concert Productions International.